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Next game: Sunday, January 20
NFC Championship vs. NY Giants
Countdown to Gameday at 12:00 p.m. on Newsradio 620 WTMJ

"60 from Super" Coverage:
• Favre More Dangerous
• McCarthy Extension?
• Koren's Redemption
• A Legend's Lessons
• Teaching in Green and Gold
• Our Experts Predict
• Behind Enemy Lines
• Tundra Could Turn Dirty
• Tundra's from NJ
• KGB Knew
• Clifton's Quiet
• McCarthy's Way
• Green Bay's Cold History
• NFC Championship Continuing Coverage Archive

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Looking for the Green Bay Packers' practice footballs this week? Check the icebox, right next to the brats.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy instructed his staff to put footballs in the freezer this week in an attempt to simulate what the single-digit temperatures that are expected for Sunday's NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field will do to make playing conditions more difficult.

It was a new twist on a tactic McCarthy has used in the past, placing footballs in buckets of water to prepare teams to play in the rain.

"We froze the balls, really didn't tell the players about it and just rolled them in there on Wednesday and did it throughout the week," McCarthy said. "Really, I was just trying to get them to focus more on catching the football. We had a couple of quarterback-center exchange in the shotgun problems there on Wednesday, but I thought they handled it very well."

Packers receiver Donald Driver said the frozen footballs caught the team by surprise.

"Basically, they never told us that the balls were coming out of the freezer," Driver said. "We just kind of felt it, the balls were cold. We thought most likely the balls had been outside all day."

And at least one player apparently didn't know about it until it came up in a news conference on Friday.

"Is that what was going on?" cornerback Al Harris asked. "That's pretty smart, whoever came up with that."

Driver said the frozen footballs helped receivers stay focused on making catches.

"When it's warm weather, you basically don't have to concentrate too much on the ball and if you've got good hands, you're going to catch it," Driver said. "But I don't care how good your hands (are), in cold weather, you have to focus on the ball to make sure you catch it before you run with it."

Brett Favre wasn't sure how much freezing footballs would help the Packers, but figured it couldn't hurt.

"I have no idea," Favre said. "We're trying everything."

WELLS WELL: Packers center Scott Wells returned to practice on Friday after sitting out Thursday's session with a strained gluteus muscle.

Wells said he was "fine" after practice. And while it bothered him to sit out, he understood why coaches held him back.

"You need to look at the big picture," Wells said. "Even if it's not a serious concern, you have to sometimes err on the side of getting healthy rather than push it to get through practice."

McCarthy said Wells is the kind of player who works hard on preparing for games, and shouldn't be affected by one missed practice.

"I think he's going to be fine to play," McCarthy said. "I have no indication throughout the week that he would not play in the game, and he's very detailed, very organized in his preparation, and I think he'll be (fine) with the amount of preparation that he's had."

BLACKMON BACK? Wells' return meant that the only remaining major question mark for green Bay going into Sunday's game is the health of cornerback/punt returner Will Blackmon, who sat out last Saturday's playoff victory over Seattle after aggravating a foot injury.

Blackmon said he felt confident in Friday's practice and was hopeful he would play Sunday, at least on punt returns if not at cornerback.

Blackmon hasn't gone out of his way to plead his case to McCarthy or special teams coordinator Mike Stock. He figures he doesn't have to.

"I don't want to say it's understood, but usually if I'm up, if I'm going to go, I'll do that," Blackmon said.

The Packers listed Blackmon as questionable on their Friday injury report. All other injured players were listed as probable.

LEAVE THE SLEEVES: Despite Sunday's forecast for frigid temperatures, many Packers players will likely go without long-sleeve undershirts to prove their toughness.

Others won't have a choice.

Packers players apparently have an unwritten rule that defensive tackles and offensive linemen can't wear sleeves.

"When I got here I threw on some sleeves," defensive tackle Ryan Pickett said. "They're like 'Hey, what you doing?' I'm like 'Man, it's cold.' It's like 'No, it's not cold to you,' so you can't wear them."

However, defensive ends apparently are free to wear long sleeves.

Why the double standard?

"They said if you're over 300 pounds you can't wear sleeves, so that's pretty much all of us," Pickett said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)